In this series, WeWork’s director of digital community selects a WeWork member to get to know better, sharing her fun findings with the rest of the community.
When I met the self-described “creative robot” George Carrara at WeWork Chelsea, I was fascinated that he taught himself motion graphics. I also loved the idea of motion graphics being omnipresent in our video and GIF-filled world. Read on to learn about the We member’s volunteer work for children’s literacy programs, his ideal superpower, and more.
What you work on—motion graphics—is everywhere. So how did you discover your interest in creating them?
That’s a great question. I was originally doing video editing. I was cutting sizzle reels— boring things for sales and marketing departments. I saw a lot of work being produced— 3D animations popping in and out—and I thought, “I want to do that!” I didn’t go to school for that, so I taught myself via YouTube, Lynda.com, a whole bunch of different blogs. It was a lot of fun. I started exploring that, and I had a lot of fun doing it—motion graphics is graphic design, but in motion! And the rest is history.
What’s one of your favorite projects that you’ve worked on professionally?
Probably the stuff I’m doing for a nonprofit right now. I do content producing for NEST USA which has schools in Nepal, the U.S., and I think they are starting schools in India. They are providing early education/early literacy education. So I’m creating the content to make the educational part a bit more entertaining and easier to follow for kids.
If you could have a superpower, what do you think it would be?
It would probably be the ability to multiply objects, like a cloner. So I would clone food and money for everyone, and I would clone products—I could clone your computer, for instance. I think it would be a little weird to multiply organic matter because things would start getting weird—a la The Prestige. Things would get really crazy really fast. So let’s avoid that. But objects—yeah! That would end world hunger too. Think about it.
Where does the inspiration for your sketches come from?
When I was a kid, I watched a lot of monster movies. I loved Godzilla, I loved Gremlins, I loved Critters.
Anything else we should know about you?
I had a pet turtle for 21 years. He was cute. And I love smart horror films.
Photos: Jenn Li